Sigillologia. Being some account of the great or broad seal of the Confederate States of America

Class CD ^6(0

x_)-l

Book - -■■■

K?

H.S*'\*

■*•$

C> V

w

N0^. I

o ox

,tf

vV5

c5>

,

^0^

I >

^ ;

?? -

.** **

/ ^

#^

'<%> ^:

r>>

•^

oov

<J v - . .

'^

^V' , ;^-^jV '

■s- ,vV

'. "^ /

o o'

UkAAAAA i.jt*ikA.mt. + * + + + ±A+±+AAAAAA^A)*A**AA

SIGILLOLOGIA.
BEING SOME ACCOUNT .

OF THli

GREAT OR BROAD SEAL

THE

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

A MONOGRAPH.

>N OMN IS MOBIAE.

DEDICATED TO THE SACRED MBMOBY 010

"The gallant died in vain,

For those who knew not to resign or reign."

BY EOLOGOS.

{Honi so talypense!)

PBICE 25 CENTS.

*-»-•

WASHINGTON, D. C.
Published by Kebvand & Towers.

Printed by Powell & Ginck,

. 032 F Street.
1873.

' ifvtyf>ff»TWTVvy??TVT»7vvvyTvvfVfTyyvir7vnryyv?vTfvtfv^yy»»*'»»<*»

SIOILLOLOGIA..

BEING SOME ACCOUNT

OF. THE

GREAT OR BROAD SEAL

OP THE

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

A MONOGRAPH.

XON OMNIS MORIAR.
DEDICATED TO THE SACKP^D MEMORY

"The gallant cavaliers who died in vain,
For those who knew not to resign or reign.'"

BY IOANNES DIDYMUS ARCHiEOLOGOS.

(Honi soit qui mal y pense !)

<jir

PRICE 25 CENTS. ° J

WASHINGTON, D. C.

Published by Kervand & Towers.

Printed by Powell & Ginck,

630, 632 F Street.

1873.

r V

0

THE GREAT SEAL

OF THE

©@iiii©iM4^;

In Harper's Monthly Magazine for February, 1869, there
is an interesting paper entitled " The Executive Depart-
ments and Seals," in which occurs the following passage :

" In our day the extraordinary spectacle has been seen
of the efforts of an oligarchy, small in numbers, but power-
ful in influence, to establish another nation within the
bounds of the Republic — imperiumin imperio — and to give to
it the symbol of sovereignty in the form of a Great Seal.
The youngest of us, old enough to reflect and reason, have
seen that ' nation,' so-called, spring up from the late slave-
labor States which formed the northern portion of the great
golden circle of empire devised by conspirators. It was a
Caliban in features ; barbaric in its proclivities ; awfully
potential in mischievous works ; protesting with fire, sword
and torture against the civilization of the age ; and yet
impudently insisting upon its recognition as one of the
family of legitimate and respectable sovereignties. Its titu-
lar initials were * C. S. A.' Its fathers resolved that it,
like the nation it was attempting to overthrow by internal
convulsions, should have a Great Seal, and in * Congress '
resolved, in the spring of 1863, that it should bear ' a de-
vice representing an equestrian statue of Washington
(after the statue which surmounts his monument in the
capitol square at Richmond), surrounded with a wreath

composed of the principal products of the Confederacy,
and having around its margin the words i Confederate
States of America, Feb. 22, 1862/ with the following motto :

* Deo Vindice? God, the protector, defender, deliverer, or
ruler — indicative of the expected longevity of the ' nation '
because of divine protection and sustenance. Alas ! that

* nation ' so notably ' conceived in sin and born in iniquity,'
died of political and moral marasmus in its infancy, un-
honored by any recognition of its existence excepting by
a Latin ghost of sovereignty. It had repeated history* by
a delay in providing itself with the usual symbol of nation-
ality. That symbol— the Great Seal of the infant Con-
federacy— sent to it by its nurse, England, reached the ap-
pointed seat of the empire of the ' C. S. A.' just as its self-
constituted guardians were flying from the wrath of God,
whose protection they had impiously invoked. The ill-
favored bantling died, and was left to decay, without real
mourners, without burial, and without a monument, for
no true man desired to perpetuate its memory. Anti-
quaries, in the future, will search in vain for any impres-
sion of an emblem of sovereignty of the ' C. S. A.' 2sone
was ever made. The broad seal of the Republic kindly
covers the dishonored ashes of that child of sin."

Although we cannot but think the language of archae-
ology should be more temperate than the foregoing, yet it
is not the intention of the writer of this simple monograph
to take any exceptions thereto. The de mortals nil nisi
bonum, is wholly out of fashion, at least in this land, both
as to States and statesmen. In fact an amiable friend of
the writer lately published a newspaper article in the en-
deavor to prove the generous, time-honored latin maxim
to be a delusion and a snare, or, to speak after the Ameri-
can manner, a humbug and a fraud.

Ours be it, therefore, to show, with moderation of style,

*An allusion to the delay of the United States in procuring their
broad seal.

that the paper from which \ve have quoted is in error when
it says " antiquaries, in the future, will search in vain for
any impression of an emblem of sovereignty of the ' C. S.
A.' None was ever made."

At the third session of the first Congress* of the Con-
federate States of America, the uecessary legislation was
had for the establishing of a seal, as follows :

[No. 4.] Joint resolution to establish a seal for the Confed-
erate States.

Resolved, by the Congress of the Confederate States of
America, That the seal of the Confederate States shall
consist of a device representing an equestrian portrait of
Washington, (after the statue which surmounts his monu-
ment in the capitol square at Richmond,) surrounded with
a wreath composed of the principal agricultural products
of the Confederacy, (cotton, tobacco, sugar cane, corn,
wheat and rice,) and having around its margin the words:
" The Confederate States of America, twenty-second Feb-
ruary, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, with the following
motto : " Deo vindice"

Approved, April 30, 1863. [C. S. Statutes at Large.]

And thus we have a succinct and accurate description of
that which symbolized the once formidable but ephemeral
Confederacy.

Accordingly the Hon. J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of
State of the Confederate States, in l}is dispatch of May 20,
1863, (No. 23) to the lion. James M. Mason, Commissioner
of the Confederate States near the government of Great
Britain, expresses the will of Congress with regard to the
proposed seal in the following very judicious and interest-
ing manner:

*It must be borne in mind that the previous and original Congress
was provisional ; the permanent government of the Confederate States
not having been established until February 22, 1862.

6
[ « No. 23.]

" Department of State,

" Richmond, May 20, 1863.

" Hon. James M. Mason,

&c, &c, &c,

" London.

" Sir :

# . .# # * # * # #

H Congress lias passed a law establishing a seal for the
Confederate States. I have concluded to get the work ex-
ecuted in England, and request that you will do me the
favor to supervise it. You will receive herewith a copy
of the act of Congress describing the sea], and a photo-
graphic view of the statue of Washington. The photo-
graph represents the horse as standing on the summit of
an obelisk, but in the seal the base ought to be the earth,
as the representation is to be of a horseman and not of a
statue. The size desired for the seal is the circle on the
back of the photograph. The outer margin will give space
for the words < The Confederate States of America, 22d
February, 1862.' I do not think it necessary that the
date should be expressed in words, the figures 22, 1862,
being a sufficient compliance with the requirement of
the law. Indeed, I* know that in the drawing sub-
mitted to the committee that devised the seal, the
date was in figures and not in words. There is. not
room for the date in words on the circumference of the
seal without reducing the size of the letters so much as to
injure the effect. In regard to the wreath and the motto,
they must be placed as your taste and that of the artist
shall suggest, but it is not deemed imperative, under the
words of the act, t\\'<xt all the agricultural products (cotton,
tobacco, sugar cane, corn, wheat and rice) should find place
in the wreath. They are stated rather as examples. I am

inclined to tliink that in so small a space as the wreath
must necessarily occupy, it will be impossible to include all
these products with good effect, and in that event I would
suggest that cotton, rice and tobacco, being distinctive pro-
ducts of the southern, middle and northern States of the
Confederacy, ought to be retained, while wheat and corn
being produced in equal abundance in the United States
as in the Confederacy, and therefore less distinctive than
the other products named, may better be omitted, if omis-
sion is found necessary. It is not desired that the work be
executed by any but the best artist that can be found, and
the difference of expense between a poor and a fine speci-
men of art in the engraving is too small a matter to be taken
into consideration in a work that wre fondly hope will be
required for generations yet unborn.

•" Pray, give your best attention to this, and let me know
about what the cost will be and when I ma}r expect the
work to be finished."

Monographic as wre have designed this paper to be, we
cannot refrain from transcribing the remainder of this dis-
patch of Mr. Benjamin, affording, as it does, a vivid pic-
ture of those times, as well as of its writer's hopeful and
somewhat credulous nature, and of his ardent devotion to
the now Lost Cause.*

" I am happy to apprise you that the information from
all parts of the Confederacy is most encouraging, as re-
gards the growing crops. In the more southern portions
of our country they are just beginning to gather the wheat
harvest, and no complaint is heard from any part of the
country of rust or other injury. The production of wheat

*The present writer is not one of those who expects ' to go to Mr. Ben-
jamin when he dies,' and although regarding at the time and still re-
garding the undue influence which he (Mr. B.,) exercised over Mr. Da-
vis as a great calamity to ' The Cause,' justice requires that he should
be vindicated from the suspicion of unfaithfulness to the Confederacy.

8

and other small grain will be very large this year, while .
that of corn will be enormous, probably enough for two
year's consumption, unless some very unexpected and un-
usual calamity shall occur. Our enemies must find some
other instrumentality than starvation before they succeed
in breaking the proud spirit of this noble people. How
it makes one's heart swell with emotion, to witness the
calm, heroic, unconquerable determination to be free, that
fills the breast of all ages, sexes and conditions.

" What effect may be produced in Europe by the repulse
at Charleston and the defeat of Hooker is not now even
the subject of speculation among the people. It is the
evident purpose of foreign governments to accord or re-
fuse recognition according to the dictates of their own in-
terests or fears, without the slightest reference to right or
justice, and we have thus learned, at heavy cost, a lesson
that will, I trust, remain profitable to our statesmen in all
future time.

" We have now, by our system of taxation, so arranged
our financial affairs as to be entirely confident of the ability
to resist, for an indefinite period, the execrable savages
who are now murdering and plundering our people, and
no prospect of peace is perceptible from any other source
than the growing conviction among all classes in the
United States that they are waging a war as ruinous in the
present as it is hopeless for the future."

We have been unable to find anything among the Con-
federate archives, from Mr. Mason, in reply to the fore-
going instructions as to the seal, until his dispatch to Mr.
Benjamin, dated London, February 18, 1864, wherein
occurs the following passage :

" In regard to the seal, too, I have now a report from
Mr. Foley, who, it seems, has been some time absent from
London. He says that the artizan, Mr. Wyon, employed
to engrave it, informs him that it will yet require six

9

weeks or two months to to finish it, as he is very anxious
to bestow upon it all the pains so important a work de-
mauds. He is executing it in silver, (the metal the state
seals of England are executed in) which offers the advan-
tage of proof against rust so often destructive to seals ex-
ecuted in steel.

" The above is from Mr. Foley's note of the 10th instant,
from Dublin, to me at Paris, He tells me, further, that
the cost of engraving the seal, including the press for work-
ing it, will be eighty guineas, and that it is customary in
England to receive one-half the amount on commencing
the work. He advises that I should conform, as it will at
least prevent excuse for delay, and which I will do as soon
as I can obtain the address of Mr. Wyon."

"We next hear from Mr. Mason, on the subject of the
seal, under date of Paris, April 12, 1864.

Mr. Mason to Mr. Benjamin :

" .Before I left London I called on Mr. Wyon, the artist
employed to make the Confederate seal referred to in my
No. 4, and paid him forty guineas, equal to forty-two
pounds, one-half the cost of the seal, in advance, and ar-
ranged that when it was ready it should be carefully packed,
with the press, &c, in a box lined with tin, and put in
charge of Mr. Hotze until it could be sent over. He
promised it should be ready by the middle of May."

We again indulge in a little episode by admitting the
following illustrative paragraph from the same dispatch of
Mr. Mason :

" In regard to the spurious report of Mr. Mallory, as
Secretary of the Navy, about which I wrote in my No. 5,
Lord Russell took occasion, a few days since, to say in the
House of Lords, that since it was communicated to him
Mr. Seward had admitted that it was a forgery, fabricated,
as he said, by some i gentleman ' in New York !!!!!!!!!!
i t i i I t i i i i i »

10

We give the precise number of his notes of exclama-
tion. Noble old Virginian ! we fear he was not the man
for that place and those times. But one cannot read his
dispatches without a feeling of profound admiration for
his exalted character.

The official and pecuniary history of the seal ends with
the following dispatch from Mr. Mason to Mr. Benjamin,
audits appendix — being the bill of the engraver, amounting
to 122 pounds 10 shillings, equal to about $700 United
States currency, at present (July, 1873,) price of gold.
Other appendices, being " directions tor using the Great
Seal of the Confederate States," we omit, as they relate to
a purely mechanical subject:

" London, July 6, 1864,

" 24 Upper Seymour Street,
" Postman Square.

" Hon. J. P. Benjamin,

" Secretary of State.

" Sir : I have the pleasure to inform you that I send by
Lieutenant Chapman, C. S. A., who bears this, the seal of
the Confederate States, at last completed. It is much ad-
mired by all who have seen it here, and I hope you will
approve it as a fine work of art.

" The seal is carefully put up in a separate small box,
and Lieut. Chapman is charged, under no circumstances,
to run the risk of its being captured. He takes the route
to Bermuda, via Halifax, to sail on Saturday, 9th instant,
and I ship through Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co., by the
steamer that takes him to Halifax, two boxes containing
the iron press, with a full supply of wax and other
materials for the use of the seal. Although not expressly
ordered, in the difficulty of obtaining these in the Con-
federacy at present, at least of approved quality, I have
thought it best to have them supplied here, all which I
hope you wTill approve.

" The enclosed duplicate bill will furnish a list of those

11

materials, with the prices. The original I have paid and
retain.

" I have requested Lieutenant Chapman to take charge
of the boxes at Bermuda, and to see to their safe delivery.
To relieve him of expenses on the route, I have further
requested Messrs, Fraser, Trenholm & Co., here, if they can
do so, to pay the freight all the way to Bermuda, and write
to Major "Walker at Bermuda to pay the freight thence to
the Confederacy, should they not go in a Government
ship.

" Still it is possible that some part of this may not be done,
and I have accordingly told Lieutenant Chapman, should
any expenses in the transportation devolve on him, it
should be paid promptly at the Department of State, which
oblige me by having attended to.

" I have the honor to be, &c, &c, &c,

[Signed.] « J. M. MASON."

[Duplicate Account.]

J. M. Mason, Esq.

To Joseph S. Wyon,
Chief Engraver of Her Majesty's Seals, &c,

287 Regent Street, London, W.

1864. July 2. — Silver Seal for the Confederate States of
America, with ivory handle, box with
spring lock and screw press. . . £84

3,000 wafers 4 10

1,000 seal papers 7

1,000 strips of parchment 18

100 brass 'boxes 16 5

100 cakes of wax 7

100 silk cords 6 5

1 perforator 5

3 packing cases lined with tin.. 3

£122 10
By cash, 21 March, £42.
Settled by cheque for balance, 6th July, 1864.

L.oV

12

The article in Harper's Magazine from which we have
quoted, lays stress upon the fact that, " that symbol, the
Great Seal of the Confederacy, was sent to it by its nurse,
England." But the author seems to have forgotten that
in his paper on the Great Seal of the United States, which
is in the same magazine, for July, 1856, he dwells with
some complacency upon the fact that the earlier and more
enduring symbol was " invented by an English aristocrat,
Sir John Prestwich." He will accord to the Confederates
at least the merit of having " invented" their own symbol ;
though it must be confessed there is not much that is
heraldic about it beyond the inevitable man on horseback.
And it will be noted, that the Confederates were indebted
to England solely for the mechanical execution of their
Great Seal. We (the writer speaking as a quondam Con-
federate) should have been too happy to have found an
alma mater in old England. Eheu !

It may be not out of place here to observe that there
are two faces to the Great Seal of the United States, but
only the obverse is used, and, as in the case of the moon,
we never see the reverse ; the design of which consists of
a truncated pyramid with the Omniscient eye above ; at
the base of the pyramid " 1-776 " in numeral letters. Over
the eye the words Annuit Coeptis, and underneath all the
legend Novus Ordo Seclorum.

It is quite germane to our subject that we make some
reference to the seals of the mother country. We find in
the Congressional Library a curious little book published
just 200 years ago. The following is its title :

Jus Sigilli or the Laio of England, Touching His Majesties
four principal Seales, viz : the Great Seale, the Prime Seale,
the Excheqer Seale, and the Signet. Also of those grand
officers to whose custody these Seales are committed.

13

London, 1673.

Consecrated to the Clarissimo, Consultissimo, Dissertis-
simoque Viro, Domino Johanni Churchill, In agro Sorn-
ersetensi Eqaiti Aurato, &c, &c, &c, by Johannes Brydall,
Armiger, ac Somersetensis.

[We will now give the leading sentence of each of the
several chapters.]

I. Of the Great or Broad Seal* of England.

This Great Seal is in the custody of the Lord Chancel-
lor or Lord Keeper, and there is a special officer in the
High Court of Chancery, called Sigillator, who hath the
sealing of writs, and other things that pass the Great Seale.

II. Of the Privie Seal.

Parvum Sigillum, the Little or Petit Seal, after called Pri-
vatum Sigillum, the Privie Seal, is a Seal that his most Sa-
cred and excellent Majesty useth sometime for a warrant,
whereby things passed the Privie Signet and brought to it
are sent further to be confirmed by the Great Seal of
England. Sometime for the strength or Credit of other
things, written upon Occasions more Transitory and of less
continuance than those be that pass the Great Seal.

III. Of the Exchequer Seal.

The seal belonging to the Court of Exchequer is in the
custody of the Chancellor, of whom these following authors
speak thus, &c. :

[We can give only one, and choose him for his quaint-

ness.]

3. Plowden: L 'es chequer ad Chancellor et Seal etles Brief es
usuall en le Chancery en L'eschequer de seiser le Terre en tiel
Case, sont pluis antient, que le Register, ou le Treatise Prce-
rogatica Regis.

*It will be observed that the orthography of the English language was
not fixed at that time, nor is it at the present.

14

IV. Of the Signet.

This Seal is in the custody of the Principall Secretary,
as well for Sealing his Majesties private Letters, as also
such grants as pass the King's Hands by Bill assigned.
And there are four Clerks of the Signet called Clerici
Sif/neti, attending on this Secretary in their Course, and
were used to have their Dyet at his table.

Our subject is not, strictly speaking, connected with
numismatics, but by referring to Prime's work on coins,
medals and seals, (Harper & Brothers, 1861,) plates will be
seen of many of the Great Seals of England, beginning
with William the Conqueror, and including Magna Carta
John. It seems that each succeeding sovereign of that
realm has his own broad seal.

The use of the seal is very ancient, almost coeval with
historic man, for antique intaglii are found wherever
the least degree of art has nourished. These antiquated
seals, especially Etruscan, Grecian, Roman, Carthaginian,
&c, are become almost common, even in this country, of late
years, the more prized, perhaps, by reason of the fact that the
polishing of the intaglio ranks among the lost arts, although
there is now an artist in Paris whose work passes even with
the virtuosi, but it is more expensive than the genuine, ex-
cept as to those specimens which are so costly as to be
termed " priceless." We have before us at this writing an
impression from a head of Antinous, for which gem the
owner has refused $2,000 ; and we, ourselves, have a head
of Jupiter valued at $500. But very handsome ones can
now be had in New York, for $100 or so.

But turn -we now to high antiquity.

15

From the " Sabsean* Researches " of John Landseer,t
Fellow of the Eoyal Society, &c, and engraver to the King,
a work published in London just fifty years ago, and for
the use of which we are indebted to the well-furnished
library of that Learned Theban, Genl. Albert Pike, we
extract the following in illustration of our theme :

Mr. Landseer, in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, in re-
ference to certain cylindrical gems iintaglii) disinterred at
Babylon and in Phoenicia, proceeds most satisfactorily to
his reader to show why he conceives the gems to have
been orignally not worn as talismans or amulets, but used
as signets, that is to say, impressed for the purposes of ratify-
ing such social and religious transactions as called for a
sacred pledge.

He then treats of them with reference to the ancient
customs of Chaldea and Assyria, (Sabsean nations of
course), and observes that. Herodotus, in detailing those
customs as they existed in his time, says that every Assy-
rian possessed a signet or seal. But this father of history
does not inform us as to the shape of the seal, nor the
manner in which mounted.

Reference in the Pentateuch to the engraver's art shows
that in the time of Moses, it was no recent invention, and

"This word signifies worshippers of the stars, and is applied to all
those very ancient nations which cultivated astronomy, deified the sun,
&c.

The Sabacans are frequently mentioned in the Pentateuch, the book
of Job, &c.

The charmingly poetical expression of " Sabamn odors from Araby
the Blest," refers to the Arabian town of Saba, famed for its aromatic
plants. Arabia Felix.

fFather of Sir Edwin Landseer, the celebrated painter of animals,
especially canines, to whom the Rev. Sidney Smith said, when asked
hy him to sit for his portrait, " is thy servant a dog that he should do
this thing?" When Landseer was presented to the King of Portugal
that youthful monarch said, "I am delighted to make your acquaint-
ance, Sir Edwin : I am so fond of beasts !"

1G

that among the surrounding nations signets were then com-
mon and in well-known use.

Joseph us, too, informs us that some ages before the time
of Moses, when Pharaoh invested the youthful Joseph with
power over the land and people of Egypt, he entrusted to
his discretion the use of the royal signet, along with and as
the ostensible mark of the royal authority.

The Chaldean progenitors of the Jews were engravers;
and it is by no means improbable — considering the nume-
rous uses to which the signet may have been applied in a
rude age, when writing could have been practiced but by
few persons; considering too, the great number of signets
that must in consequence have become necessary — that
Terah, the Chaldean, the father of Abraham, and the first
artist whose name is anywhere upon record, was an en-
graver of signets as well as a sculptor or modeller of such
small idols as Rachel, in three generations from Terah, is
recorded to have hidden under the furniture of a camel.

The dimensions of these curious antiques are various,
some being ten times as large as others. Speaking gener-
ally, they are from three-fourths of an inch to more than
two inches in length. These elaborately wrought instru-
ments of ratification, these pledges of honor or of super-
stitious faith, were easily portable and served as personal
ornaments.

Ferdosi, the poet, records that when Sohrab, the son of
his hero, (Roostum) had received his death wound from
the hand of his unknown father, he tore open his coat of
mail, and showed the seal which his mother had placed on
his arm when she revealed to him the secret of his birth,
and bade him seek his father. " The sight of his own
signet (says Ferdosi) rendered Roostum quite frantic," kc.

The passage in the Idyl of Solomon, " set me as a seal
upon thine arm," doubtless alludes to the same oriental
custom, and is of a date between Juclah and Roostum.

" Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days ?

17

Hast thou caused the day-spring to know his place, that it
might take hold of the ends of the earth ? It is turned
as clay to the seal," &c. job., chap. 38.

The sealing substances of the land of ITz and probably
that of the nations on the banks of the Euphrates, at this
remote period, was clay, the ooze of that river, the very
same substance, levigated, perhaps, of which the stamped
Babylonian bricks are formed ; and our instructive author
adds, that of the various substances (such as wax, pastes,
&c.,) on which he has tried to impress these ancient signets,
he has found clay the fittest both for receiving and retain-
ing the impression. The durability of well-made bricks,
whether burnt in the fire or in the sun, is well known.

Our excellent author gives us much learned discourse
on the philology of the nouu signet, and the verb to seal,
showing how the latter came to be used, both as a noun
and as a verb. When the King of Babylon closed up the
entrance to the temple of Baal, and that of the den of
lions to which the prophet Daniel was consigned, by ap-
application of the royal signet, — in the latter instance
there were added impressions from the signets of his
nobles. The sacred text also alludes to the irrevocability
of the seals of the Medes and Persians, by adding " that
the purpose might not be changed."

Signet is from the same root and belongs to the same
verbal family, with Signal, Ensign, Signature, Insignia,
Assignment, Signify, Assignation ; and the root, or etymon,
from which all these, with a long et cetera, have grown
lies deep, far deeper than the later signum, from which the
dictionaries derive them, but which is itself derived, along
with them, from the Hebrew root Ath, by some Hebraists
pronounced Oth, but he believes more properly Ath, which,
in our language, is rendered with sufficient fidelity by the
word Sign. And by the expression of Hebrew root, is
meant that from which the idea or meaning, not the word
signet, has grown. It is not pretended to trace, with the

18

etymologists, the progress of a sound from one language,
age and country to another, but rather the progress or
transmission of an idea from the primitive ages to the
present. Anything so anomalous as that the English
word Sign can have been derived from a sound so dissimi-
lar as the Hebrew Ath, it is hoped he will not be supposed
to mean. If our ivord sign came from the Hebrew at all,
it probably came, with the Greek Sema, from Shem., which
is Name.

It may not be superfluous to mention, that the ordinary
sense in which the names of common things are the ac-
credited signs of those things is not here treated of, nor
of that other branch of the meaning of Shem, which the
English word Notoriety would best express, but more re-
conditely, of mystic signs, prophetic of the future, or
emphatically denoting the past.

Ath or Sign, then, primarily meant and still means —
What ? A mystic mark, denoting and bringing to mind
something absent, or some material essence intellectually
apprehensible, but not cognizable by the senses.

To this family of words (Signal, Ensign, etc.), then
belongs, and from this genealogical root springs the word
Signet. Its termination et meaning no more in the abstract
than advancement to the accomplishment of a pur-
pose intended, which purpose, in the present case, is the
manifestation of the sign ; or else this termination is
merely a diminutive, like the ette of the French, in which
case signet, or signette, can mean no other than literally a
miniature sign.

It is well known that our Saxon ancestors, soon after
the introduction of Christianity, when few men were clerks
enough to execute a written deed by the subscription of
their names, were accustomed instead thereof, as illiterate
persons do at present, to sign with a cross; of which it
may be said either that they made the mystic sign of the

19

cross, or that the cross which they made was the sign*
of their plighted faith.

[Another entertaining work, Oriental Fragments, by
the author of the Hindu Pantheon, London, 1834, says :

The impressions of seals or rings, which I suppose may
be called signets, were in days of yore extensively applied
in lieu of manual signature. In such days it was not usual
for any but the clergy to learn to write or read. Not
many centuries, say four or five, have elapsed since read-
ing and writing were in England deemed ungentlemanly
acts. Those must have been glorious days for the rev-
erend clergy.]

During the middle ages when the profession of arms
was regarded as the only pursuit worthy of a gentleman,
and learning was mostly confined to the ecclesiastical
orders, it was looked upon as an effeminacy flbr men to
know how to write their names ; and this habit of thought
lasted among the French noblesse long after the art of
printing had disseminated intelligence amongst the middle
classes. Even as late as 1789 a deed is of record in
France signed by a member of a noble family with
his + mark, to which the Scribener has added as explana-
tion : " Cannot write his name for too much nobility."

To resume Landseer : That mark of the cross was the
ordinary mode of signature among the Anglo Saxon
Christians, who were, with regard to their inability to
write, in the predicament of most of those Sabseans of
old, whose signets, or instruments of signing we are
about to consider, and some of whom lived, in all proba-
bility before writing was invented.

♦Thus, John (his f mark) Smith, and hence, from the form of that
mark, the popular error as to the meaning of the expression to sign
one's name, as though it were derived from the sign of the cross.

20

In the dark ages, which succeeded the overthrow of the
Roman power, not only few men could write, but there
were no artists capable of cutting seals ; signature with
the cross was therefore among the Christians, in a great
degree, a thing of necessity, though they sometimes made
use of other ceremonies as signs or tokens. But when
art began to reappear, and engraved stones to be raked
up from the ruins of past ages, sealing was added ; and as
writing gradually became more known and practised,
subscription of names came also into vogue, introduced at
first, perhaps, by learned clerks, and by way of noting
whose signature had ratified the deed that might be in
question, for even Charlemagne was not penman enough
to subscribe his own name, but was accustomed to sign
with an antique gem, which had been set for that purpose
in the pommel of his sword, saying, as he impressed it,
" what I sign with the hilt I will defend at the point of
my sword."

But it ought to be noted here that regal signets, used
as instruments of authority in the signature of public
edicts, appear to have crept into use after the age of Solo-
mon,* and perhaps from the time when the monarchical
power of Saul was superinduced on the republic of Moses.
Whether they contained celestial signs, or more than
verbal inscriptions of the names and office of the kings, is
nowhere recorded, but with one of these, Jezebel appears
to have signed her forged letters to the elders ; and in the
time of the prophet Jeremiah, very particular mention is
made of another signet, used as an instrument of legality
in the purchase of a field, from which it would appear to
have been the custom of the Hebrew conveyancers in the

*We have been unable to ascertain why the cabalistic star com-
posed of two equilateral triangles interlaced thus ^*g should be called
"the Seal of Solomon ;" much less why, having six angles, it should
be called npentacle, i. e. pentagon, as though it had but five angles.
[See the Ingoldsby Legends. A Lay of St. Dunstan.]

21

reign of Zedekiah to deposit a sealed copy of every deed
of transfer of landed property in some public office.

We here reluctantly take leave of our most fascinating
author, having extracted some of the the most apposite
passages from thirty-four pages quarto of the original.

But we hear our impatient readers exclaim, what about
that particular seal with the name of which. your so-called
monograph is headed ? Kind friends, read on :

The Great Seal of the Confederate States.

To Col. Charles C. Jones, jr.,#

Attorney and Counsellor at Law,

*l Wall street, New York.

My Dear Sir : At considerable trouble and expense, I
have been so fortunate as to rescue this interesting memo-
rial from oblivion, and, possibly, a vandalic melting pot
(it is of pure silver, and weighs several pounds). I have had
many electrotype impressions! of it executed, and in defer-
ence to your antiquarian and archaeological tastes and
devotion to the Lost Cause, have the pleasure of handing
you, herewith, the first one finished, which you may regard
as a proof-impression before letters.

' My object has been two-fold; first, to afford many of our
compatriots an opportunity of possessing and holding in
memoriam the fac simile of so unique and charming— in
spite of so many sad recollections — a souvenir, for which
purpose they will be offered for sale ; and, second, to use
the proceeds of the sale, less bare cost of the medals, cases,
&c, in the relief of as many as possible of the needy and

♦Author of '•' Monumental Remains of Georgia ;" "Historical Sketches
of the Chatham Artillery during the Confederate Struggle for Inde-
pendence ;" wk Antiquities of the Southern Indians, particularly of the
Georgia Tribes;" <fcc. &e.

fVery skillfully and faithfully executed by Mr. S. H. Black, No. 4.
Marion street, New York.

22

afflicted of the South, whose name, alas! is legion. And
with this motive I beg you to suggest the name of some
one in Savannah and in Augusta who would be willing to
assist me, as agents, in this benevolent sigiltary under-
taking.

With much regard, your friend, &c,

New York, June 20, 1873.

And where is that Seal ? It is in the possession of the
writer of this paper. Who rescued it? And to whom
does it belong ? We reserve a reply to these questions
for another occasion. Suffice it to say, at present, detur
digniori.

P. S.

We give the fac simile of Harper's wood-cut illustra-
tion of the Broad Seal of the Confederate States, which
is not half the diameter of the original, but otherwise
tolerably correct, by way of frontispiece to our brochure,
they having kindly sent us an electrotype of the same. We
would add that the writei in Harper is mistaken when he
says " antiquaries, in the future, will search in vain for any
impression of an emblem of sovereignty of the Confederate
States of America. None was ever made." The truth is
there were several documents, which went abroad, authen-
ticated with it, also a i'ew impressions given to officials,
clerks and others.

We trust that the loyal heart of the North, which was
so accutely sensitive to the sight of the Confederate gray
shortly after the war, will not be distressed by the exhibi-
tion of this symbol of the long extinct Confederacy — cere
perennius though it be. Fait Ilium! The alert fammam.
is no part of our motive.

23

And we trust to be excused for indulging in this pleas-
ant task, jn the use of the first person plural. This trea-
tise was designed as a newspaper editorial, but it has grown
to an inordinate length for such purpose. The writer is
not unmindful of the fact that Prentice, of the Louisville
Journal, once said, " no man has the right to speak of
himself as 'we,' unless he be a king, an editor, or have a
tape-worm."

These medals of the Great or Broad Seal of the late
Confederate States are now ready for delivery to such
persons as may desire to possess a specimen. They are
finished in gold, silver and bronze (i. e. gilt, plated, &c.)
price live and seven dollars each — according to the cost of
the cases in which mounted. Orders will be received by
Messrs. M. W. Gait, Brother & Co., Jewellers, No. 1107
Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C.

N. B. They will not be furnished for speculative pur-
poses ; but to Charitable Institutions at half price — being
about prime cost. The number executed is limited. A
statement shall be published of the number distributed,
and of the disposition made of the surplus proceeds.

Washington, I). C, July, 1873..

--*

^ ^

w-"* ° \v ■'*- ° ■' ^ '1 -> -

vN ,' ..>^^>h. - '

A\N » v ' fl *

\v

*>. »

% #

V f

*;/■

\'V °/ AU

% '

</> «?

* -P

n--l, '.'- ?■ '" ,."

w°°

,0o.

^ ^

,^-V

^ -

,00.

o <y

^o1

o*

"V. \V ',/• A

^>

'> <v :

,

,00

•- -• v,l .= .?> U,